Senior European champion takes under-23 gold, while Oliver Bromby and Cameron Fillery claim medals for GB on day two in Gävle
Elvira Herman and Alina Reh both broke championship records on the second day of action at the European U23 Championships in Gävle, Sweden.
Adding the under-23 100m hurdles title to her senior European gold medal won for Belarus in Berlin last summer, Herman clocked 12.70 to miss her PB by 0.06 but finish 0.01 inside Noemi Zbaren’s four-year-old record mark.
Poland’s Klaudia Siciarz secured silver in a PB time of 12.82, while France’s Laura Valette claimed bronze in 12.97.
“It was a beautiful result, I’m so happy with that,” said the winner. “It’s exciting to run a championship record, I wanted to show that form here.
“It was a very interesting race, the other girls pushed me to that fast time.”
Reh dominated the 10,000m final, leading from gun to tape to cross the finish line in 31:39.34 ahead of her German team-mate Miriam Dattke with 32:29.45. Jasmijn Lau of Netherlands was third in 33:35.66 and GB’s Julia Paternain sixth in 33:51.31.
European senior fourth-placer Reh, who claimed under-23 5000m silver two years ago, had lapped the whole field except Dattke before the half-way mark and went through 5000m in 15:42.70.
“Throughout the race I tried to stay focused and not to go too fast,” said Reh, who is also set to race the 5000m in Gävle. “I found my pace and kept my rhythm then I decided I should aim for the championship record. Why not?!
“I’m very happy now, but I’m going for the double in the 5000m so I need to recover fast. It’s going to be much harder than today, but I’m still going to go for a medal.”
Like Herman, Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece added the under-23 title to his senior honours, winning the long jump with a European-leading 8.32m to add another gold to a haul which includes European indoor and outdoor titles. GB’s Jacob Fincham-Dukes was ninth with 7.56m and Reynold Banigo 11th with 7.45m.
There was medal success for Britain in the men’s 100m and 110m hurdles as Oliver Bromby and Cameron Fillery claimed silver and bronze respectively.
Henrik Larsson won the close 100m final in front of a home crowd, clocking 10.23 (+2.2m/sec) to get gold ahead of Bromby in a time of 10.24 and Joris van Gool of Netherlands with 10.27. GB’s Dom Ashwell was sixth in 10.37.
In the hurdles, Jason Joseph won for Switzerland in 13.45 (+1.4m/sec) as Poland’s Michał Sierocki secured silver (13.63 PB) and Fillery bronze (13.64) after clocking a 13.60 personal best in his semi-final. James Weaver ran 13.92 for seventh.
There was another gold for Switzerland in the heptathlon as Géraldine Ruckstuhl clocked a 2:12.05 800m to move from second in the standings to first ahead of Germany’s Sophie Weissenberg – 6274 points to 6175. Hanne Maudens of Belgium got bronze with 6093.
Poland’s Ewa Swoboda added the European under-23 100m title to her senior European indoor 60m gold, claiming a clear win in 11.15 (+0.6m/sec) ahead of France’s Cynthia Leduc (11.40) and Germany’s Lisa Nippgen (11.45).
In the triple jump, Lithuania’s Diana Zagainova got gold by 4cm, leaping 13.89m as GB’s Naomi Ogbeta just missed a medal with a best of 13.64m for fourth.
European indoor shot put champion Konrad Bukowiecki continued his winning ways after claiming gold at the World University Games, throwing 21.51m.
Marija Tolj won the discus title for Croatia with a lifetime best of 62.76m, while Russia’s Sofiya Palkina won the hammer title with a throw of 71.08m.
In the 200m heats, Toby Harries won his heat in 20.86, the quickest overall, while Shemar Boldizsar ran 20.96 for third in his race to also progress. Their GB team-mate Kristal Awuah booked her place in the women’s semi-finals after running 23.88, while Cameron Chalmers made the 400m final, clocking 46.39 for second in his heat.
Jemma Reekie was back on the track after 800m qualifying the day before and booked her spot in the 1500m final after running 4:21.35 for second in her heat. Spencer Thomas clocked 1:49.12 to make the 800m final, while Alex Knibbs won his 400m hurdles heat in 51.24.
Divine Oladipo achieved the qualifying mark of 16.00m to secure her spot in the shot put final, throwing 16.15m in the first round, while Jake Norris threw 69.47m in hammer qualifying to book a place in the final.
GB team co-captain Morgan Lake cleared 1.78m on her first attempt and that was all that was needed to book her place in the high jump final.
Results can be found here, while a report on day one action is here.